Albert from "The Rasch Outdoors Chronicles" is as good as his word. I just received a guest post that he told me he would do and I wanted to get it on here as soon as I could so you all could read it.As many of you undoubtedly remember, Rick graciously wrote an eloquent guest post on "The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles", It was so called "A Proud American Hunter". I thought I might return the favor with one of my own.
The genesis of this idea was Rick's veiled reference that he was going to do a review and tutorial on handloading. Then Deer Passion put a little more impetus on it by penning “5 Good Reasons to Reload Your Ammunition.” And five good reasons they are! Times being what they are, we could all use a little extra savings.
It is rather odd, how politics plays havoc with supply. I’ve been calling and getting in touch with various manufacturers of reloading components, mostly people I met at the SHOT Show. Without an exception, they are running at capacity. Many of the bullet manufacturers are really Mom and Pop operations, with extended family helping out. This is particularly true of cast bullet manufacturers. What started out as a rush to get semi automatics in case the O’bama administration went loopy, has evolved into an avalanche of orders for all things firearms related. Right or wrong, the American People have spoken with their wallets, even in a time of economic travails.
In a conversation with Rick, he mentioned that he was ready to start his explorations in handloading except for one thing: a lack of some components. None of his local sporting emporiums have the necessary parts in stock. I can attest to that myself. My local gunshop has taken to having customer lists for different components, ammo, firearms etc.
The majority of readers are Outdoor Bloggers Summit members, and it occurred to me that many of us have things that we might not need or want, and may want to trade.
What we need is a forum or site where the members of OBS can post those odds and ends that accumulate and may not be of any use to you any more. Now I’m not saying anything but ... Kristine!!!
In the meantime, we can create a gadget in our blogs with what we have that we want to trade. You might even want to create one with your needs. I’m going to fool around on The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles and see what I can come up with, and how it looks.
Best Regards,
Albert
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
The Range Reviews: Tactical
Proud Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
8 comments:
Outside of not being OBS-centric, it's already been done.
The Accurate Reloading Forums has a nice classified section for trading everything from components to rifles to pelts. Most all the people I've dealt with there are fair, and especially if you have a safe full of oddball calibers like I do, it's a godsend at times. Plenty of normal caliber stuff too. Runs the gamut from bench resters and IPSC shooters to double rifle ele hunters and everything in between, as do the components and ammo offered for sale.
If people there don't have components to trade or sell, one of us minions will generally know where to find them. Molds and dies too.
Primers, everybody is on their own these days. Powder is still easily available at any gun shop, around here anyway or through Midway et al.
I've never been ripped off yet and have bought everything from brass to rifles from people there.
I just use the classifieds, gunsmithing, and loading forums. If you dip your toes into the hunting/shooting/political forums you will find rather a few keyboard commandos, some a bit rude of manner.
Anyway, it's a good resource for finding component and ammo, most especially of less common calibers.
If you place a want to buy/sell/trade advert for just about anything you'll usually have a number of messages within 24 hours no matter how odd the request/item.
tom, thanks for your input and of course for stopping by.
I find that I can get most any ammunition I need - though the .556 NATO and .223 Rem. and AK stuff is hard to get. 10 MM in high demand. Still, reloading is fun, and a fine way to tailor ammunition to a particular gun. Good post! Jack
No problem.
Without reloading I couldn't afford to shoot many of my rifles much. Prices of everything .300 Magnums and above and wildcats like my Grendel and such have gone through the roof if one had to buy loaded ammo.
I only buy loaded ammo when I need more brass for something (and .22LR), as I've found it's about a wash as to buying new brass and loading it vs buying loaded ammo from people on forums and such.
Casting bullets is handy too, not expensive to get in to, and many a tire shop will be glad to let you take their lead wheel weights away for next to nothing or free, so they don't have to deal with the environmental issues.
Side bonus of casting your own bullets if you like to play with black powder era cartridge rifles (and muzzleloaders) is you can find what weight and diameter bullets work with the actual barrels of your rifles. There aren't too many commercial options for anything from the black powder cartridge rifle era except .45-70, perhaps, and the rest are all horridly expensive.
Long Ridge Deer Camp & tom, I think it is only going to benefit me to learn how to reload if the economy and the Whitehouse keep at it.
Sorry I'm late!
Rick, thanks for allowing me to post on Whitetail Woods, much obliged.
I've got a couple of more post to add to Whitetail Woods when you're ready. Both on reloading, one on the 45 LC and another on a rifle cartridge yet to be decided.
Again, thank you for the opportunity!
Regards,
Albert
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
The Range Reviews: Tactical
Proud Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Albert,
Do TWO .45s, I can give you tips on .458 Lott or WinMag loadings.
When you absolutely positively want to make sure the hog goes down with the first shot cause you're carrying a Ruger No. 1! :-)
Albert, you are more than welcome. I do appreciate what you have to say and I am sure a lot of others do. I look forward to whatever you would like to add.
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